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Introduction
Tonya Harding was born on November 12, 1970
in Portland, Oregon. She was born into an unstable family but that didn't hold her back from becoming someone. She had started skating at the age of four and fell in love with the sport. With her natural athletic ability, she committed to the sport to hopefully go to the Olympics one day. (Evans, Hilary) Image ("The Oregonian") -
Landing the Triple Axel
Triple AxelDuring the U.S Figure Skating Nationals in 1991 she attempted something that few women have ever done in sksting history;the triple axel. Usually only men do this difficult jump but Tonya was brave and had the athleticism to execute it perefectly. She won the Figure Skating Nationals in 1991 with the triple axel. (Kienzl, Thomas) Video ("Tonya Harding warmup triple Axel") Image ("The Oregonian" -
"Whack Heard Around the World"
Before the 1994 U.S Figure Skating Natioanls, Tonya's husband had hired someone to club Nancy Kerrigan in the knee to injure her. Nancy and Tonya had always been close competitors and Tonya wanted to go the 1994 Olympics so she thought that's what had to be done unfortunately. Tonya had won Nationals but was later stripped of her metal and title after the attack on Kerrigan.(Continued...) -
"Whack Heard Around the World"...continued
Although Kerrigan was unable to compete, her and Harding were both selected for the 1994 U.S Olympic team. (Brennan, Christine) Poster ("Ice Follies: The Strange Plot To Cripple Nancy Kerrigan." ) -
"Thin Ice"
After a disappointing 8th place at the 1994 Winter Olympics, Harding had let down her fans not only with her poor skate but with the attack she had been involved in. Harding's husband had been sentenced to jail for two years while Harding was banned from U.S Figure skating forever. ( -
Moving on
After being banned from skating, Harding took up another sport, boxing. She became a professional boxer and competed in several televised tournaments. Recently, she had married Joseph Price and they just had a child in late 2011. Harding has learned to move on with her life, "Life is a roller coaster and it has ups and downs and no matter what you do, you can't give up", Harding states in an interview with Oprah in 2009. (Coffey, Wayne) Image (Iacono, John) -
The Price of Gold
Anything to WinTo this day Tonya still denies of ever being apart of the attack on Kerrigan. in this Interview for the Today show in 2008, Tonya speaks her opinon on the attack and she believes she is the victim in this attack due to the unforegttable harrassment she had gotten. ("Tonya Harding on The Today Show 2008")
